1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a bicycle pedal, more particularly to a light-generating bicycle pedal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/814,448, the applicant disclosed a bicycle pedal that includes a pedal body, an axle and a light-generating unit. The pedal body is formed with a tubular axle sleeve having an axle hole with front and rear ends, a cage member disposed around and connected to the axle sleeve, and a generator chamber adjacent to one of the front and rear ends of the axle hole. The axle extends into the axle hole, is coupled rotatably to the axle sleeve, and is formed with a wheel-mounting portion that is disposed in the generator chamber. The light-generating unit includes a magnet wheel disposed in the generator chamber and mounted coaxially and co-rotatably on the wheel-mounting portion of the axle, a coil device disposed in the generator chamber around the magnet wheel and mounted on the pedal body, and a lamp unit connected electrically to the coil device and mounted on the cage member.
Rotation of the axle relative to the pedal body results in rotation of the magnet wheel relative to the coil device, thereby inducing electrical currents in the coil device that are provided to the lamp unit so as to enable the lamp unit to generate a light output.
It is desirable to improve the aforesaid bicycle pedal to simplify the manufacturing process thereof.
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a light-generating bicycle pedal having simpler interconnections among components of a light-generating unit thereof.
Accordingly, a light-generating bicycle pedal of this invention comprises:
a pedal body formed with a tubular axle sleeve having an axle hole with front and rear ends, a cage member disposed around and connected to the axle sleeve, and a generator chamber disposed adjacent to one of the front and rear ends of the axle hole, the cage member including a pair of lateral cage portions that extend parallel to the axle sleeve and that are disposed respectively on opposite lateral sides of the axle sleeve, at least one of the lateral cage portions having an outer wall surface formed with a board receiving cavity;
an axle extending into the axle hole and coupled rotatably to the axle sleeve; and
a light-generating unit including a magnet wheel disposed in the generator chamber and mounted coaxially and co-rotatably on the axle, a coil device disposed in the generator chamber around the magnet wheel and mounted on the pedal body, and a lamp unit connected electrically to the coil device and mounted on the cage member.
The coil device includes a spool, a coil wound around the spool, and a pair of conductive caps capped on an assembly of the spool and the coil. Each of the conductive caps is connected electrically to a respective end of the coil. The conductive caps are formed with a set of anchoring lugs.
The lamp unit includes a circuit board received in the board receiving cavity and having at least one lamp mounted thereon. The circuit board is formed with a set of anchoring holes that permit extension of the set of anchoring lugs therein so as to establish electrical connection between the lamp unit and the coil device.
Rotation of the axle relative to the pedal body results in rotation of the magnet wheel relative to the coil device, thereby inducing electrical currents in the coil device that are provided to the lamp unit via the anchoring lugs on the conductive caps so as to enable the lamp unit to generate a light output.